Abstract

BENTO-TORRES, Natáli Valim Oliver et al. Multisensory and cognitive stimulation in institutionalized and non-institutionalized elderly people: an exploratory study. Rev Pan-Amaz Saude [online]. 2016, vol.7, n.4, pp.53-60. ISSN 2176-6215.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5123/s2176-62232016000400007.

The duration of the beneficial effects of the previously performed Multisensory and Cognitive Stimulation Program was investigated using cognitive testing. The study participants were institutionalized and non-institutionalized elderly people who had no history of traumatic brain injury, cerebrovascular incidents, or primary depression, presenting visual acuity 20/30 or higher (Snellen test), and who regularly attended the Multisensory and Cognitive Stimulation Program described in a previous study. Reassessments were performed at two, four, six, eight, and 12 months after the end of the Stimulation Program using the Mini-Mental State Examination and selected tests from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery as follows: Motor Screening Task, Rapid Visual Information Processing, Reaction Time, Paired Associates Learning, Spatial Working Memory, and Delayed Matching to Sample. The results showed significant differences between the groups. A higher rate of cognitive decline was observed in the institutionalized elderly people, suggesting that cognitive decline is associated with the poor somatomotor and cognitive stimuli presented by long-term care institutions. In addition, analyses of the receiver operating characteristic curves, followed by calculations of the specificity and efficiency for each test, revealed that the Cambridge Battery tests for memory and paired spatial learning, as well as for spatial working memory, allowed for a distinction to be made between the groups at all of the reassessment time points. Taken together, the results are of interest to public policy planners who can recommend regular programs of somatomotor and cognitive stimulation for institutionalized elderly people in order to promote a reduction in the progression of senile cognitive decline.

Keywords : Long-term Care Institution for Elderly People; Memory; Life Style; Aging; Cognition.

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